Another one fights the dust...🧹

Where Emma declutters

Hellooooo summer-ish! And hello you gorgeous new folks around here 🙌🏻 Yup I can officially get that floaty dress out, wrestle with the zipper and straps then attempt to waft around looking cool and together…hahah. Oh well, nice try, Emma.

As regular readers know my wellbeing tends to shatter a little in any sort of chaos. Summer brings a whole picnic basket of the stuff.

Noise, dust, school holidays, light nights, people everywhere, the wrong clothes, mixed weather, lack of schedules, people talking about fucking hollibobs¹

I need you to know I love heat, sunshine and a loose schedule but, and it’s a big one, only when I don’t have to squeeze my singularly unsuited life into that tiny window of British summer.

As a result, I have been decluttering my house in a vain attempt to bring some order and stop my mental state from disintegrating like that unrecognisable piece of something (toast?)I found in the back of the kitchen cupboard 🤢 Teenager 2 doesn’t seem to know what a bucket is.

I have always had a fairly minimal approach to belongings and clutter. Including digital clutter - yes, I am a smug bastard for deleting my emails once read, bite me. Some of it comes from frugality some from my upbringing. I moved house a lot as a child and as an adult so I like to be able to pack a house up in 24 hour period. Of course, when you live with other people and children…not so easy. Turns out they have stuff as well!

Decluttering, creating order, spring cleaning all add to my sense of peace. Does having a chronic illness specifically a brain disease that doesn’t recognise rewards make us more susceptible to losing a feeling of peace? I find that my ability to filter out noise - be that sound or mess - is virtually gone now.

So the declutter marches on room by room, day by day (well, PD means it’s more random) I do feel better. By better - I mean I’m not losing my shit at standing on dog toys in the middle of the night and freaking out as to what that slimy thing my barefoot has touched is!

I am also a believer that less clutter means more time and more space for good stuff. It also matches my plan for future-proofing to an extent. I am only going to get less able and I don’t want that time to be upon me and have to sort out all the excess crap in my life to make space for what I absolutely need. Crisis management, if you will.

I do love the feeling of not being responsible for so many things. I like this quote:

… the true cost of a thing goes well beyond the price on the pricetag.

The cost of…
Storing the thing.
Maintaining the thing.
Cleaning the thing.
Watering the thing.
Feeding the thing.
Charging the thing.
Accessorizing the thing.
Refueling the thing.
Changing the oil of thing.
Replacing the batteries of the thing.
Fixing the thing.
Repainting the thing.
Taking care of the thing.
Thinking about the thing.
Worrying about the thing.
Protecting the thing.
Replacing the thing.

It’s from the Minimalists… a couple of chaps who expound minimalism in an accessible way. It’s all very profound, which isn’t necessarily bad but it’s a little um well minimal.

Right-o, there is a lovely Negroni (our summer drink of choice this year) waiting for me and the Scottish summer has retreated to whence it came - back down to sweater temperatures.

with love

E x

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1. I mean to say…WHAT THE HELL IS A GODDAMMED HOLLIBOB? Sounds like something you really don’t want to catch in a cheap Spanglish pub in Malaga.